抄録
The steady irrotational subsonic flow of a compressible fluid past a prolate spheroid is discussed by Janzen-Rayleigh’s method and the velocity potential correct to M2 is given in elliptic coordinates, where M is the Maeh number for the undisturbed flow at infinity. Numerical discussions are made for two cases in which t=0.9 and 0.1, t being the thickness-ratio of the body. In the former case the velocity distribution on the surface of the body is shown, while in the latter only the maximum velocity at the end of the minor-axis of the spheroid is given. The so-called critical Mach number, Mcrit, at which the maximum fluid velocity in the field of flow first becomes equal to the local sound velocity, is also calculated in both cases and is found to be Mcrit=0.615 and 0.972 respectively. In Appendix some numerical values of Legendre’s spherical functions Pn(z) and Qn(z)(n=1∼13) are tabulated for various values of z ranging from 1.01 to 2.
